1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fluid flow control devices and in particular to fluid flow deflectors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In controlling the delivery of fluids, such as hot water, to charges of beverage brewing ingredients in coffee brewers and the like, it is desirable to distribute the hot water generally uniformly to the brewing charge. It has been conventional in devices such as coffee percolators to direct the stream of hot water from the percolator stem onto a frusto-conical deflector having a plurality of divergent upwardly opening grooves whereby the hot water is delivered in a plurality of divergent streams onto the subjacent coffee grounds. One such deflector device is shown in the Wojidkow U.S. Pat. No. 1,036,767. As shown therein, the hot water is pumped by a percolator action upwardly through the hollow stem onto the annular deflector over which it flows in the form of a plurality of separate streams onto the coffee grounds carried in the lower portion of the brewing chamber.
In L. M. Bowman U.S. Pat. No. 1,183,721, a deflector is provided having a frustoconical portion defining a plurality of outwardly widening, upwardly opening divergent grooves. The deflector includes a mounting portion adapted to be mounted to the delivery conduit defined by the percolator stem. A baffle wall is provided on the annular deflector in alignment with the outlet of the delivery conduit whereby hot water delivered therefrom may impinge on the baffle and fall therefrom onto the subjacent frustoconical deflector to be guided by the grooves in the desired plurality of distributed streams.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,882,811 of Samuel M. Kass, a deflector is provided having a mushroom shape defined by an annular rounded wall having a plurality of rounded grooves and adapted to be carried on the upper portion of the percolator stem.
The control of liquid flow in liquid distributing devices may be effected by rounded grooves as shown in the above discussed prior art patents, or interchangeably by flat sided grooves such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,013,729 of Edward S. McLean; 2,727,784 of George E. Hansen; 2,222,465 of Gunnar B. Nystrom; and 2,423,960 of Ernest H. Bucknell, et al.
A substantially different appraoch to the distribution of the hot water onto the coffee grounds is illustrated in the more recent United States Letters Patent of Le Roy Peterson et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,356. In this patent, the stream of liquid from the delivery conduit is deflected by a plurality of elongated elements intersecting at a mid-portion of the device with the intersection of the elements being disposed in the path of the delivered stream so as to deflect the stream into a plurality of divergent paths. In the Peterson et al patent, the annular deflector is eliminated and the deflected streams are permitted to flow directly downwardly from the intersection of the elongated elements at a deflection angle controlled substantially by the velocity of the supply stream. Thus, rather than provide a flat baffle, such as in the Bowman patent, for absorbing kinetic energy and deflecting the delivered stread onto a circumjacent annular apron, Peterson et al suggest providing a pointed deflector into the center of the stream.
The concept of providing intersecting elongated element, or ribs, at the center of an impinging liquid stream is shown in the earlier Bucknell et al patent discussed above wherein the divergent ribs intersect to define downwardly angled surfaces therebetween tapering toward the vertical axis of the device. As pointed out in Bucknell et al, this type of distributor splits the stream in diverting the water flow and the delivery of the water therefrom is dependent upon the velocity and pressure of the supply stream.
John R. Thorson U.S. Pat. No. 3,178,119 shows the use of a spray head having a tapered center and an annular apron provided with upwardly opening radial slots which apparently extend fully through the thickness of the disc such that the deflector is effectively defined by a plurality of radially extending fingers or ribs. Thus, similarly as in the Peterson et al patent, the impinging stream is deflected by the pointed center element to pass downwardly through the radially extending spaces between the ribs with the angle of deflection being controlled primarily by the water pressure and angular configuration of the pointed center element. In addition, Thorson provides lands between the slots for further deflecting the downwardly directed stream.